UNCTAD, through its Debt and Development Finance Branch (DDFB), works on analytical issues technical assistance, primarily in the areas of external and domestic debt.

UNCTAD began working on debt issues during the 1970s. As the debt situation of developing countries has evolved over the following three decades, DDFB has provided up-to-date analysis of the most important developments and emerging issues in international debt, and adapted its technical assistance to the changing needs of developing countries.

A high-level UNCTAD Roundtable recently brought together over 70 participants and experts at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss the role played by non-cooperative funds (so-called vulture funds) in sovereign debt markets and debt restructurings.

President Michael Higgins of Ireland has called for a "new institutional architecture" in managing global debt in a keynote address delivered to 10th UNCTAD Debt Management Conference in Geneva on 23 November.

With a growing mountain of global debt remaining at the heart of a highly fragile worldwide economy, experts are meeting in Geneva at the 10th UNCTAD Debt Management Conference on 23–25 November in a context of heightened alerts about threats to future debt sustainability in many emerging and developing economies. Global debt reached an astounding $199 trillion in 2014, up from $21 trillion in 1984.

​A round table discussion warns of new debt crises and the challenges these will pose to the Sustainable Development Goals if the world does not agree on a new, more effective legal mechanism to restructure sovereign debt. Civil society urges UNCTAD to continue its work on the issue.